News

Fremont police to use state grant to fund DUI checkpoint Thursday night

By Chris De Benedetti, The Argus

Posted:
12/26/2012 04:08:55 PM PST

Updated:
12/26/2012 04:08:55 PM PST

FREMONT -- Police plan to use a state grant to conduct a DUI/driver's license checkpoint in the Centerville district Thursday night, authorities said.

The Fremont Police Department recently received a $49,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to reduce death and injuries as a result of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Police said they will use part of the grant to fund the checkpoint, which will be held from 8 p.m. Thursday to 1 a.m. Friday in the area of Fremont Boulevard and Country Drive.

In 2010, 791 people were killed statewide and 24,000 were injured in alcohol- and drug-related crashes, police said. DUIs account for nearly one-third of traffic fatalities statewide, but checkpoints have played a big role in reducing the number of DUI-related deaths in California since 2006, said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the state Office of Traffic Safety.

"The Fremont Police Department needs the high-visibility enforcement and public awareness that this grant will provide," Murphy said in a statement released Wednesday.